Back to the Park

After eight weeks at home with my wife and our new son, I returned to work and am back to my warm-weather habit of eating lunch in Bryant Park. The park has been busy with the usual things (jazz, movies, etc.) but it seems to be becoming zany in some new ways.

Park Oddity Number One: The north side of Bryant Park, today at least, is the new home of the Lost (and apparently still wandering) Tribes lot, who were preaching loudly through a public address system each time I went by.

Park Oddity Number Two: Human statues. In the southeast corner two men shared a table. They wore crisp longsleeve Oxford shirts and long pants, all white, their hands and feet dusted in something that looked like plaster. West of them at two adjacent tables sat three women, plastered probably to their navels to preserve the effect despite their white tank tops. All appeared motionless, although I did notice that the men, who sat closer by, shifted poses when I wasn't looking. More strangely, all wore black sunglasses with broad neon orange dots covering the middle of each lens. If the hawks return this year I wonder whether they'll find these statues suitable roosts.